54 comments:

Whoa Whoa Whoa...this is weird, really weird, I mean can a Satanist complain about a theft? I mean really isn't one of Satan's chief sin that he tried to steal the glory that rightly belonged to God. I mean isn't the person stealing the sign just following in the footsteps of the religions progenitor, if so how can his "adherents" complain? Shouldn't they celebrate how another person has fallen into darkness by stealing?

It's difficult to take a sign asking one to vote in a certain way as religious, rather than political. Either way, it's taking property at the very least and ought not be condoned.

I don't understand the whole "Satanist" thing, though. Do they think Satan is the font of all evil and want evil to prevail, or do they not think Satan is evil? And if they don't think Satan is evil, really, what's the point?

This reminds me of any number of horror movies where the so-called Satanists finally meet up with Satan, or as more often happens, one of his not-so-friendly demons. It always ends badly for them and you would think these folks would have worked that out.

Here's a reminder: Turn the other cheek. If someone would take your coat, give him your coat and your cloak. Give away everything you have to the poor and follow Jesus.

In some senses yes and in some senses no. When a crime is committed and the Christian is a witness there can be a duty to honestly report the offense, see Leviticus 5:1 (not as law, but as moral principle). Furthermore, the civil authority is meant to punish wrongdoing so that society operates properly, Romans 13:1-7.

However, the Christian is not to take personal offense to the theft, that is to personally not hold a grudge or bitterness, for bitterness is an indictment that you are unhappy with what God has allowed in your life.

An officer with the Mountain View Police Department said the report will likely be filed as theft because there was no obvious attack on the couple’s church or religious beliefs.

Precisely because the sign was political, I think the police were right. I met people in Wisconsin recently who had yard signs damaged or stolen. How is that not also a "hate crime" even though the candidates were different?

The answer is "Of course it's wrong." The new "normal" is so expansive it's hard for people to use their normal human capabilities to know deviancy.

Now, people have to use a set of rules that aren't natural to decide "what's normal" and not. Unfortunately, it also opens up the door for all kinds of shenanigans. Like the CA state congressman who put forward a law saying kids can have more than two parents. Whatever happened to "If you want to live way outside of the realm of normal, you have to deal with the fact that society might not be accommodating."

I'm guessing that Satan was the one who cut it down. That's just the kind of thing he would do to start trouble

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."John 10:9-11

Really, I think this is an issue of a religion's content. Jesus saves, and Jesus brings life is, at least ideally, about participating with neighbors and working to promote life affirming practices.

Satanism, by definition, is about evil and darkness and egocentric behavior. If a person put up a sign saying, "I'm going to kill you and steal from you and destroy you all," that would probably be seen as unacceptable. There's an implied threat of community welfare as our culture understands it.

Now, if they had just chosen a pagan god that doesn't have the same inherent connotations of evil, by definition, then they'd have a much better case. Well, there would be some pagan exceptions. We wouldn't want worshippers of Odin because they might go berserk. And we wouldn't want worshippers of Molech because then we'd fear for our kids safety.

I think there are some obvious differences, but these shouldn't matter as far as the law is concerned. If Satanists wanted to start up a soup kitchen and religious groups were eligible for government funding (à la Dubya) they should be eligible to get the money just as much as a Christian group would be. I say this as a born-again Bible thumper.

Satanists are no different than Communists. Both are in the business of fundamentally transforming, setting upside down, the moral order, which Satanists call Christian Morality and Communists call Bourgeoise Morality. Homosexualists call the moral order Straight Morality. Satanists, Obama and hatboy must therefore all be opposed, not passively but aggressively, in order to do unto them before they do unto us, the good normals.

The New Jersey parents who were thrust into the national spotlight for naming their son Adolf Hitler lost custody of their newest baby boy just hours after he was delivered, the family said.

Heath and Deborah Campbell told the Lehigh Valley's Express-Times that child welfare agents took their son, Hons Campbell, at around 6:50 p.m. on Thursday after the doctor who delivered him called the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services.

Baby Hons was born at around 2 a.m. Thursday after the doctor induced labor on Wednesday evening, the newspaper reported.

Heath Campbell said he doesn't know why the agency took his baby boy."

Now sure, Hitler was a bad guy, but no where close to the prince of darkness and if the government can remove your children because of the name you've selected for one of them, certainly it ought to discourage the promulgation of unspeakable evil. Right?

If 'what is the difference' is the question, the answer turns on the scale to be applied in measuring the distance between the two. Are we asking about intentions, or perceptions, or social function/utility, or legal rights/duties, or what?

Paddy O says that it's "an issue of a religion's content." Perhaps so if you're using a measuring stick that comes in those units. But there are many different ways of measuring anything, and it helps to be clear at the get-go.

It seems to me if you are worshiping the prince of darkness, you ought to commit to it. To have your evil polluted by the stench of moral relativism! And whining about hate crimes. Does Count Dracula whine about hate crimes? Does Lex Luthor whine about hate crimes? You're supposed to be inspiring hate, fear, evil and thievery, dummy. That's your mission! It's like you don't understand Satan at all. Next you'll be singing Kumbaya, My Devil and refusing to sacrifice a goat. You're a Squishy Satanist, that's what you are. What are you doing, aiming for the first circle of hell? Lower your goals!